Examples of City-Saving Design in AIA Seattle Exhibition

Parklets. Guerrilla gardens. Spontaneous artworks. Temporary infill. With the recession and the emptying of public coffers came the rise of upstart designers doing start-up urban interventions. The examples are endless. In San Francisco, for one, architecture firm Envelope A+D designed a two-block project to house retail, restaurants, and exhibitions in shipping containers. And in New Orleans, for another, a designer started the “I Wish This Was” campaign, where citizens place their suggestions for a better urban environment on stickers around cities. AIA Seattle displays these examples from elsewhere as well as examples from Seattle in an exhibition curated by Trevor Dykstra, Assoc. AIA, of Seattle firm Coop15. The hope is that urban interventions will continue post-recession in the Pacific Northwest. Through Feb. 22. • aiaseattle.org